In another sign of trouble for so-called advanced biofuels, the newly created giant corporation DowDuPont stopped operations at its $225 million cellulosic ethanol plant in Nevada, Iowa, and hopes to find a buyer for the plant with a 30-million-gallon-a-year capacity, said the Des Moines Register. Last December, Abengoa Bioenergy sold its cellulosic plant in Hugoton, Kan., for pennies on the dollar as part of a bankruptcy liquidation of assets.
Two other sizable cellulosic ethanol plants remain in operation — the POET-DSM plant in Emmetsburg, Iowa, and the Quad County Corn Processors plant in Galva, Iowa. POET-DSM was the first company in the United States, in 2014, to open a commercial-scale cellulosic plant, making biofuel from corn stalks and cobs, with Abengoa and DuPont putting their plants on line soon afterward. The spate of openings was heralded as the arrival of cleaner-burning biofuels that would not compete with food crops for raw materials.
DowDuPont said it was realigning its operations. “While we still believe in the future of cellulosic ethanol, we have concluded it is in our long-term interest to find a strategic buyer for our technology including the Nevada [Iowa] biorefinery,” it said. Monte Shaw, of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association, told the Register the timing of DowDuPont’s announcement was unfortunate. “We’re starting to see commercial fruition following a lot of years of struggle,” he said.
A decade ago, second-generation biofuels such as cellulosic ethanol were expected to provide the bulk of U.S. renewable fuels. But technological challenges and high production costs have slowed the arrival of the fuels in commercial volumes. The EPA has repeatedly lowered the mandate for use of biofuels because they are in small supply.